Cars

The Citroën “Traction Avant” (means front drive) was introduced in 1934 as the 7A; the 15-Six model was introduced in 1938, and was a radically different concept from the cars Citroën had been producing.

This bare chassis gives an unrestricted view of the inner workings of the famous Citroën 2CV, or “Deux Chevaux”, including its longitudinal suspension, air-cooled 602cc engine, unusual shifter linkage, and the in-board front disc brakes.

As far back as the early 1930s, Citroën teamed with Yacco, an oil company in France, for endurance testing on Citroën automobiles. These cars were tested at Montlhéry, a track outside Paris. 

Citroën wanted to create a four wheel drive car for use in africa to take the rugged terrain encountered during oil and mineral exploration. Instead of going with a standard configuration, Citroën mounted one engine in the front and one engine in the rear to create four wheel drive. 

The 2CV “Fourgonnette” (or Truckette) played as important a part of the 2CV story as the car. Ultimately, over a million examples were built, which accounted for nearly a third of the total 2CV production.

The fire and rescue service in Cogolin, France, used a Citroën 15-6 (you can find one in our French area) as part of their fleet. One night while on patrol, Colonel Hourcastagné found the narrow mountain road blocked. 

The Citroën 2CV was designed to offer minimal-cost rural transportation. Designers were challenged to build a car that would carry two people and a 250 pound sack of potatoes at a speed of 37 mph.